Staller Center, Room 0113 (the “Choral Room”), 4PM – 5:20PM, Mondays & Wednesdays

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Ford Fourqurean, ford.fourqure[email protected]

Office Hours (Fine Arts Building Room 3368): 3-4PM Monday or email for an appointment

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Cox, Christoph, and Daniel Warner, eds. Audio Culture, Revised Edition: Readings in Modern Music . New York: Bloomsbury International Publishing, 2017. Make sure to get the revised edition

Additional readings from other texts will be electronically distributed and assigned, including materials taken from books, articles, websites, etc. We will also distribute audio and video materials for listening/ viewing. In addition to your textbook, other videos or documentaries might be assigned for classroom discussion .

DESCRIPTION:

Our course catalog describes MUS 300 as the “study of the interactions between music, technology, and  culture in popular and concert music since World War I. Issues of production, distribution, and reception, involving such topics as the impact of radio on composition in the 1920s and 1930s, early synthesizers, and the rise of electronic music, digital sampling and DJs, the MP3 phenomenon, cross-cultural borrowings, gender and technology, the internet, interactivity, and new models of consumption [will be discussed] .”

That said, this class primarily functions as a topics-based seminar. Our weekly materials will balance covering important historical and philosophical background as well as the interests of the class participants on current issues involving music, technology and digital culture .

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students successfully completing this course will:

− develop the ability to listen critically and analytically to a piece of music or sound source, and learn to articulate what they hear in a precise, concrete, and thoughtful way;

− develop the technical vocabulary necessary to quantify the above observations, and connect them to their appropriate technological, cultural, political, and/or historical context;

− demonstrate a clear understanding of the history, development, and of music technology and audio recording technology, dating from the earliest known recordings to the present day;

− engage substantively with specific examples drawn from the literature and from various cultures, e.g. everything from contemporary classical to punk to video game music;− put all of the above skills into practice by researching and writing a scholarly paper on a relevant topic .

GRADING:

Attendance – 15%

Assignments/Participation – 35%

Project – 25%

Term Paper – 25%

Attendance is MANDATORY. Remember, 99% of life is showing up! You are expected to attend every class, and arrive on time. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each and every class. Three absences will result in a reduction of 5 points in your final grade; every three absences beyond that will reduce your final grade by an additional 10 points (one letter grade).   Anyone arriving after the day's lecture/discussion has begun will be considered late. Two late     arrivals or early departures will equal one absence.

Discussion is a very important component of this course. Your participation grade will reflect your contributions to class discussions, your participation in classroom activities, and your overall level of engagement. This doesn't mean you need to say a lot, or speak in every single class – quality counts for more than quantity – but it's important to engage in some way throughout the course. Obvious cases where you are unwilling to participate will result in a 5 point deduction after the second written warning. This classroom is meant to be open for all participants, so please contribute!

Project – There will be one end of semester project assigned to explore a selected work of your choice post 1970. It will explore and analyze the piece (song, instrumental, electronic, etc.) within the context of the forms of analysis studied in the course. While this will not require music theory, it will involve critical listening skills and the ability to put the work into historical context.

Assignments will typically be relatively short, written responses to the week's assigned reading/  listening (6-8 sentences summarizing the text), but may include other types of assignments. All assignments will be submitted via Brightspace (or email if specified) in Microsoft Word (.doc) or PDF format. In the event of a Brightspace outage or other technical difficulties, we will accept     paper copies or email submissions.

Most assignments are graded based on completion and submitted on time before 4:00 PM on the due date. Late assignments will be penalized, and won't be accepted at all if they're more than a   week late. All assignments must be well-written, with correct spelling and grammar, and must address the assigned questions. Unacceptable assignments will be returned for revision.

The Term Paper will count for 25% of your final grade. The paper will be between 5-8 pages long (not counting title page or bibliography), in 12-point double-spaced Times New Roman font with standard margins. This is not to be a “rough draft” or “work in progress” — a finished paper is expected on the due date.

Your paper will then be returned with comments, feedback, and suggestions. You will have two weeks to make any necessary changes or corrections to your paper, and will submit the revised  version. This revised version will account for 15% of your final grade. Note: Apaper topic proposal will be due approximately 1 month before the paper, and will be an assignment.

All due dates will be announced in class and posted on Brightspace. If you are uncertain about something, please contact us before your work is due.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

When you turn in an assignment, a quiz, or a paper, and you use someone else's words or ideas, you must give credit where credit is due. It doesn't matter whether it's an article, a book, a website, or the back of a cereal box: if you didn't come up with it yourself, you must provide a citation. Paraphrasing is not good enough.

Every quotation and every borrowed idea you use must be properly attributed with a footnote or parenthetical citation, using an appropriate academic citation format (preferably Chicago style).  Your term paper should also include a full bibliography at the end, listing detailed publication  information for every source you consult. If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to see one of us before submitting your assignment. If you have the slightest doubt, always cite.

All violations of these policies, and any other form of academic dishonesty, will immediately be reported to the Academic Judiciary Board. And we will check, so please don't be tempted to bend the rules!

CLASSROOM POLICIES:

If you need to miss class for a valid reason (illness, University-sanctioned athletic event, family emergency), you must let us know before class time, and you're still expected to hand in any assignments due on that day. We will normally only excuse one absence per student, and we reserve the right to ask for verification. Remember that “presenting fabricated excuses for missed assignments or tests” is, according to official University policy, considered a form of academic  dishonesty.

More generally, if you're having difficulties of any sort – personal, medical, or academic – that  will affect your work in this class, it's essential that you inform us right away. If you let us know beforehand, we can probably figure out a way to make things work. If you only tell us after you've already missed a bunch of classes and assignments, however, then it's likely to be a different story.

Cellphones and other portable devices should be on silent during class. We will consider an exception if you have a reasonable need, e.g. if you're a volunteer firefighter, have a sick or very young child at home. These devices must still be turned off during any exams.